Bates Jenna N, Kamara Abdulai, Bereteh Mohamed Sheku, Barrera Denise, Moses Lina, Sheriff Allieu, Sesay Fudia, Yillah Mohamed S, Grant Donald S, Lamin Joseph, Anglewicz Philip
School of Global Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
School of Community Health Sciences, Njala University, Bo, Sierra Leone.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024 Nov 4;4(11):e0003421. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003421. eCollection 2024.
The 2013-2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa was the deadliest in history, with over 28,000 cases. Numerous physical and mental health symptoms have been reported in EVD survivors, although there is limited prior research on how the health of survivors compares to the general population. We conducted a survey of EVD survivors in Kenema District, Sierra Leone and a population-based sample of community members who lived in EVD-affected areas but were not diagnosed with EVD, and compared resulting data about self-reported symptoms, duration, and severity between EVD survivors and community members through multivariate regression models. This study found that more than six years after the epidemic, survivors were significantly more likely to experience both physical and mental health symptoms than community members, with respective adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of 2.65 (95% CI, 2.28-3.09), p < 0.001, and 11.95 (95% CI, 6.58-21.71), p < 0.001. The most highly reported physical health symptoms experienced by EVD survivors were joint pain (75.5%), headaches (67.3%), and vision problems (44.5%), and the most prevalent psychological symptoms were spells of terror and panic (25.5%) and difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep (20.0%). EVD survivors were significantly more likely than community members to report the symptoms as lasting for a longer period, a median of 6.0 (3.0-7.0) years, and with higher severity. The results indicated that six years after the epidemic, EVD survivors in Kenema District, Sierra Leone are experiencing worse physical and mental health than their peers. These findings of the long-term, debilitating health issues following EVD infection should be considered when designing and implementing future epidemic responses.
2013年至2016年在西非爆发的埃博拉病毒病（EVD）疫情是历史上最致命的一次，病例超过28000例。埃博拉病毒病幸存者报告了许多身心健康症状，不过此前关于幸存者健康状况与普通人群相比的研究有限。我们对塞拉利昂凯内马区的埃博拉病毒病幸存者以及居住在埃博拉病毒病感染地区但未被诊断感染该病毒的社区成员进行了一项基于人群的抽样调查，并通过多变量回归模型比较了埃博拉病毒病幸存者和社区成员之间关于自我报告症状、持续时间和严重程度的结果数据。该研究发现，疫情过去六年多后，幸存者出现身心健康症状的可能性显著高于社区成员，身体和心理健康症状的调整发病率比（IRR）分别为2.65（95%CI，2.28 - 3.09），p < 0.001，以及11.95（95%CI，6.58 - 21.71），p < 0.001。埃博拉病毒病幸存者报告最多的身体健康症状是关节疼痛（75.5%）、头痛（67.3%）和视力问题（44.5%），最普遍的心理症状是惊恐发作（25.5%）和入睡困难或睡眠维持困难（20.0%）。埃博拉病毒病幸存者比社区成员更有可能报告这些症状持续时间更长，中位数为6.0（3.0 - 7.0）年，且严重程度更高。结果表明，疫情过去六年，塞拉利昂凯内马区的埃博拉病毒病幸存者的身心健康状况比同龄人更差。在设计和实施未来的疫情应对措施时，应考虑埃博拉病毒病感染后长期存在的使人衰弱的健康问题的这些发现。
